Shooting Stars Combines Your Two Favorite Things: Cats and Shmups

It wasn’t long ago that I was admitting my personal struggle to find the appeal in vertical shooters (or as they’re better known, “shmups”). And yet for the second week in a row, I find myself absolutely mesmerized with a new mobile shmup that’s appeared on the horizon.

In Shooting Stars, players will fight off an alien invasion by blasting celebrity doppelgangers with their laser cat. Some people might be tempted to call this exciting. I, however, call it a Tuesday.

This is the latest game being thrust in the spotlight by Noodlecake Games, who’ve helped highlight and publish more than a few top notch mobile games over the last few years. This time they’re showcasing the debut work of Vienna-based mobile games studio Bloodirony Games, and they’re promising to blend a few genres that we haven’t really seen mashed together before. In addition to being a shmup, Noodlecake says the game will feature “roguelike elements similar to The Binding of Isaac.”

Today’s announcement also confirmed “a card collection mode that randomly generates your levels,” as well as a fixed daily challenge mode to put your friends in their place.

A specific release date hasn’t been locked down yet, but we’re being told that you can probably expect Shooting Stars to arrive on iOS and Android in the first half of July.

I know it’s hard to wait, so remember: you can’t use your real cat as a weapon.